Download Fallacies Student Handout

FALLACIES (chapter 5)
1) facts: probable, provable (senses, science, testimony=2ndary, historical evidence)
2) implications: unspoken message, suggestion, with indirect words
3) assumptions: suppostion, idea taken for granted, based on prior/little knowledge
4) inferences: logical deduction, based on evidence/observation; educated guess
(assumption=based on belief vs/ inference=based on sense data or premises)
* #2-4: not=facts; you fill in the gaps, make connections, supply missing data; you draw
conclusion without all of the information/facts
* Rule of Simplicity: (p.338) When there are competing possibilities, choose the answer that
requires the fewest assumptions.
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A. Problems with INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE:
1) Overgeneralizing: hasty generalization, false, sweeping. implies ALL.
--easily disproved; too many exceptions & complications. (*need to be qualified)
--“established beliefs”=stood time& not easily overturned
--all, everyone, everybody, no one, nothing, everything, anything, always
--qualify with: many, some, few, usually
--too many maybe’s in your writing=indecisive
--racism, ageism, sexism
ex: “Teenagers today are fat and lazy.” “Men don’t cry.”
2) Stacking the Deck(card stacking): selecting only the data that supports your position
--ignoring contradictory data (only 1 side of the issue)(*need other side/s of issue)
--news bias, politicians, tobacco industry
--fraud, misleading
ex: “Ninety-five percent of the people I interviewed agreed with the Democratic Opposition.”
3) Ad Ignorantium: since cannot disprove, then must be true
--assumes lack of info (ignorance)=source of info (*need more info)
--absence of evidence is not evidence
ex: “Since the library has no books on Eva Braun’s intimate relations with Adolf Hitler, then she
must not have had any.”
4) Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc: “after this, therefore b/c of this”
--assumes a causal relationship; no other explanations (C/E)
--assumes a later event was caused by an earlier one (*need more info, more research)
--effect has more than one cause; indirect & direct causes
ex: “Because you left the milk out last night, it was spoiled this morning.”
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B. Problems based on IRRELEVANT INFORMATION
1) Ad Baculum: (intimidation)
--threat of physical or psychological harm
--extortion, blackmail
ex: “If citizens don’t start patronizing downtown stores, then businesses will be forced to close &
then the city will be in ruin.”
2) Ad Hominem: personal attack, insults (name calling)
--attack the person, not the facts or issue
--way to avoid dealing with the issue (diversion)
ex: “What does he know; look at the way he’s dressed.”
3) Fallacy of Opposition: (name calling)
--whatever comes from opposition=wrong & detrimental
--assumes nothing good could come from those we oppose
ex: “Of course you’d say that, you’re an atheist/hippie/teenager.”
4) Genetic Fallacy: (name calling)
--assumes where the idea came from affects its validity (country, paper, school)
--akin to elitism, snobism
ex: “You’re not a real Shakespeare scholar because you only teach at LCCC.” “All cars made in
USA/Korea are junks.”
5) Guilt by Association: (birds of a feather stick together)
--assumes people’s behaviors must extend to their friends
ex: “Everyone who goes into a bar is an alcoholic.” “Sally’s promiscuous, so you must be too.”
6) Ad Misiricordium: (pity) see war/famine/AIDS photos of kids
--manipulative & obfuscation (diversion)
--irrelevant (evoke pitiful image or situation, w/o basis, to distract from issue)
--don’t rely wholly on pity (pathos)
ex: “I couldn’t write my paper because my son/daughter/mother was sick.”
7) Ad Populum: (right b/c popular)--sound bites/slogans
--biases & prejudices, appeals to tradition, halcyon days
--tells people what they want to hear, what they want to believe (strokes audience)
--slogans/sound bites subvert the reasoning process b/c do not define terms (mean whatever
people want them to mean/whatever people say they mean)
ex: “If guns are outlawed, then only outlaws will have guns.”
8) Bandwagon: (right b/c popular)
--valid b/c popular
--do b/c others do---peer pressure, group/mob identity
ex: “Sixty million people can’t be wrong.”
9) Plain Folks and Snob Appeal (right b/c popular)---se Genetic Fallacy
--do b/c ordinary person does (& avoid pretensions of snobs)
--do b/c rich/popular/beautiful do (*celebrity endorsements)
ex: “Why pay fancy salon prices for a shampoo”
ex: “Use the deodorant that professional athletes like Joe X use.” (appeals to reader’s vanity)
10) Ad Verecundiam: (inappropriate use of authority)
--assume b/c expert in one field that is an expert in another (*celebrity endorsement)
--OR the use of an obscure, hard to find source
ex: “I play a doctor on TV...”
11) Red Herring: (diversion)
--skirt the issue; diversion, obfuscate
--use an irrelevant point or a side issue to lead away from the issue at hand
ex: “Sure, the Chargers had a bad year, but what about the Redskins.”
12) Strawman Argument (Weak Opponent)
--invent an opponent that can be attacked without fear of retaliation (easy target)
--generic/vague group or label (*no real person is involved)
--stereotypes, overgeneralizations (based on personal biases/prejudices)
ex: “today’s student,” “moral majority,” “welfare cheats”
13) Tu Quoque: (too kwo-kway)
--“you did it too”
--justify actions b/c accusers are supposedly guilty of same crime
ex: “You did it too when you were my age.”
quote: “It’s ok that I dis white people on my show because they’ve been doing it to us for years.”
14) Oversimplification:
-- =Post Hoc/=Overgeneralization (see causes for war)
--overlook the complexity of an issue//no critical examination of the issue
--there’s always more than 1/2 sides to an issue (legal, moral, religious, political, racial, philo...)
ex: “Kids are fat b/c they eat too much McDonald’s.”
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C. Problems of AMBIGUITY
1) Amphiboly: (ambiguity)
--ambiguous, multiple meanings/interpretations
--caused by Bad Grammar (misplaced modifiers, PN reference)
--statistics/percentages--89% sounds like much, but not if only 5 people were asked
ex: “Her parents watered the flowers, yet they died.”
2) Begging the Question: (circular reasoning)
--restate the premise w/o answering the question (avoidance) (nonresponsive)
--begs another/other question/s
--circular reasoning turns the question around w/o answering it
ex: “My mother is a good person b/c she’s so moral.”
3) Equivocation: (quibble on the meaning of word/s) Macbeth
--tactic to delay, distort, clutter, or avoid issue
--trivial distinctions; euphemisms
--Mabeth, Clinton (“That depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.”)
4) Loaded Language: (biased words)
--leading questions/statements, the answer to which is misleading or damning
--readers should question users’ motives (they don’t want to consider the issue; they’ve already
made up their minds)
--sarcasm & irony=ambiguity (so avoid using either)
ex: “Do I have to research any more junk on the stupid topic?”
5) False Analogy:
--false relationship, false comparison, false impression
--more differences btw the 2 than similarities (despite few superficial similarities)
--dig more and find that not related//collapse when examined critically (difficult to use)
--exaggerations
ex: “The Patriot Act turns our government into another Reich.”
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D. Problems from FAULTY REASONING
1) False Dilemma: (either/or thinking)
-- =Oversimplification, =Loaded Language
--assumes only 2 sides to an issue, both sides=unpleasant (but more than 2 options)
ex: “You either support Feminism or you’re a sexist pig.”
2) Non Sequitur: (“it does not follow)
--Big Leap in logic, faulty conclusion, unconnected, doesn’t make sense
ex: “B/c the Internet has so much information, there isn’t any need for libraries.”
3) Rationalization: (rationalize)
--Blame someone/thing else; self-serving excuse
ex: “I can’t hand in my paper today b/c the dumb computer wouldn’t print it.”
4) Reductio Ad Absurdum: (reduce to absurdity)
--use opponents’ reasoning against them//extend their argument to absurd conclusion
--merely to ridicule opponent
--more/less is better
ex: “If 2 are good, then 5 are better.”
5) Slippery Slope: (next step=danger/forbidden)
--one thing must lead to another (1 drink/puff=addiction)
--dangerous proposals
ex: “She kept her kid away from soda b/c one drink and he’d be addicted to it for life.”